Shaffer returns to Lincoln job

After working in Cleveland County for over a year, Assistant District Attorney Rick Shaffer has returned to his old job at the Lincoln County Courthouse.
â€œI was happy to come back and work in this system and deal with my old friends in law enforcement,â€ said Shaffer.
Lynn Broadway, who had worked as Lincoln Countyâ€™s main assistant district attorney since April, is no longer employed with the system.
District Attorney Bill Young could not be reached for comment on the changes.
Before being transferred to Lincoln County in April, Broadway had worked as a prosecutor with Youngâ€™s office for four years, where she handled felony assaults, robberies and some murder cases.
As the districtâ€™s domestic violence prosecutor, she also handled domestic violence cases in Lincoln County for years.
Wednesday was Shafferâ€™s first full day back in Lincoln County, but he will continue working on cases in Cleveland County, the other county in Judicial District 27B.
â€œItâ€™s a transitional period,â€ said Shaffer. â€œIâ€™ll be going back and forth a little bit.â€
Before being transferred to Cleveland County, Shaffer had worked in Lincoln County for approximately 15 years.
In Lincoln County, he covers nearly all felony charges and misdemeanor appeals.
In Cleveland County his work was more specialized in drug activity and group related violent crime.
â€œThereâ€™s such a culture of violence in Cleveland County that weâ€™re trying to deal with,â€ said Shaffer. â€œI will miss having the opportunity to impact that and change that.â€
The crimes Shaffer deals with in Lincoln County will be much less extreme on the whole.
â€œLincoln County is a more rural area, apparently, and for whatever reason there has not developed the same degree of violence,â€ he said. â€œItâ€™s nice to know there are places like Lincoln County.â€
Although there are things Shaffer will miss about Cleveland County, he looks forward to having a variety of cases.
He doesnâ€™t plan to spend too much time on any one trial.
â€œMy approach is to keep it simple and as short as possible and to get the relevant information out there in just a regular guy fashion,â€ he said. by Sarah Grano